"Last Night at the Jetty"

Listening to this version of "Last Night at the Jetty" back-to-back with the 7" version that got around late last year, everything about it sounds just a little better: The background details are brought to the fore and given some space, the sound is less murky, and Noah Lennox's voice sounds clearer and more present. And details here mean a lot. From what we've heard so far, the Tomboy tracks are less about dynamics, shifting layers, and development and more about creating and sustaining a mood or feeling. "Slow Motion" zeroed in on the loops and sort of let them gain force through repetition and "Last Night at the Jetty" uses a similar technique but alternates between discrete melodic sections, like a dancer reeling around an open floor. Instead of a backbeat, the song has a delicate lilt, with a carefully placed pause in every bar, accentuating the melody's vulnerable ache. "Didn't we have a good time? I know we had a good time," he asks early on, changing that "we" to "I" later, like he's maybe trying to convince himself. And then when the song opens up and the "I know, I know" part comes in about two minutes in and you can hear all the electronics swirling in the background, it's a reminder that there are still things this artist is capable of that the many imitators can't touch.